|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 11:14:13 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 20, 2017 11:14:13 GMT
We are having a butter shortage in France. Who would have ever believed that could happen. In the 1970's the EU had "butter mountain" that it had trouble getting rid of.
Butter shortage in France
However, this will certainly pass before long, but I thought it would be good to start a thread about butter, its virtues and dangers (?) and how much of it all of us use.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 13:27:15 GMT
Post by lagatta on Oct 20, 2017 13:27:15 GMT
I was taken aback by how many Dutch people consume marg instead of butter - I suspect that Dutch-based multinational Unilever leveraged (sorry) a scare campaign about butter's dangers some decades ago.
It is odd especially as they drink frightening amounts of milk...
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 13:43:49 GMT
via mobile
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 20, 2017 13:43:49 GMT
Butter all the way for us...
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 13:44:20 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Oct 20, 2017 13:44:20 GMT
Quote from the linked article: According to a report in Le Monde newspaper on Friday the shortage is due in part to a huge increase in demand for butter throughout the developing world as well as the growing appetite for French pastries like croissants, notably in China.
Even though I know that butter from Denmark and New Zealand can be bought in other countries, it never occurred to me that France, a country I think of has having a huge domestic market for its butter, would be exporting it. Do countries set aside a percentage for export and a percentage for domestic use? Is that how France came up short on the domestic front? I assume China is using French butter to make croissants, rather than importing them from France. I was taken aback by how many Dutch people consume marg instead of butter ... It is odd especially as they drink frightening amounts of milk... Maybe they drink so much milk that there is little left over to make butter. butter, its virtues and dangers (?) and how much of it all of us use. I think the link between butter and cholesterol is mostly b.s., but I there is no doubt that it is a fattening and dangerously seductive substance, which is why I try to avoid it. I absolutely do not use margarine, though.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 13:55:11 GMT
Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 20, 2017 13:55:11 GMT
Butter for us, it has doubled in price in the supermarkets over the past 6 months or so. Our son sometimes uses vegan soya butter...the only buttery thing about that is the name. I love hard fresh pats of butter from the farmers' market....but we rarely get that...
I use it in moderation as does OH, but I use it a lot when cooking. We use just under 500g per week between three adults..but that's for cooking as well as for spreading...
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 14:03:25 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 20, 2017 14:03:25 GMT
I had to throw out half a package of butter when I emptied my refrigerator. It hurt me to do so. I looked up the per capita consumption of butter in the world, in kilos. imageshack.com/a/img923/8905/Xv04Vw.jpgBixa, one French brand of butter that I have seen just about everywhere in the world and on many airlines is Président. They seem to have the export market cornered.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 15:26:16 GMT
Post by bjd on Oct 20, 2017 15:26:16 GMT
I remember seeing those packages of white stuff with a button of yellow dye in supermarkets in Toronto when I was young! My family never ate margarine. We still don't, even though my father-in-law used to claim that he could trick his kids into eating it thinking it was butter. Frankly, I don't believe it.
I went to the store the other day and there was a sign in the butter section saying there was a shortage, but only of sweet butter. There was lots of salted butter available.
I also remember going to London in the late 1970s and seeing French butter for sale, cheaper than it cost in France.
To add to the article linked in Kerouac's first post, I heard on the radio that the shortages are also linked to dairy farmers producing less butter because they claimed that they were not being paid enough for their milk, so they have turned to raising cattle for meat rather than dairy cows. And that the consumption of butter has gone up in France because, even if it's not really healthy to eat a lot of it, it's more satisfying than margarine.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 17:29:35 GMT
Post by lagatta on Oct 20, 2017 17:29:35 GMT
Président butter is sold in supermarkets and cheese shops near me. So is a local butter made with a French (higher fat) recipe.
There is also a new butter for the lactose-intolerant. I'm lactose-intolerant, but have never had any problem with butter, which is mostly fat and contains very little lactose. I can't drink cow's milk.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:00:03 GMT
Post by amboseli on Oct 20, 2017 18:00:03 GMT
In the 1970's the EU had "butter mountain" that it had trouble getting rid of. Oh yes, I still remember how we had 'Christmas butter'. It was regular butter that was sold at a very cheap price to get rid of the butter mountain. I eat butter, my husband eats marg. A few years ago, I had this discussion with my cardiologist about butter (which I favour) vs. marg. She chewed me out, and if eyes could kill, I would have been dead!
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:08:05 GMT
Post by amboseli on Oct 20, 2017 18:08:05 GMT
Président butter is sold in supermarkets and cheese shops near me. So is a local butter made with a French (higher fat) recipe. I prefer Beurre d'Isigny Sainte-Mère demi-sel, which is somewhat harder to get than Président.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:08:09 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 20, 2017 18:08:09 GMT
Here doctors have begun to say that butter is good for you again, as good as olive oil (if we're talking about 100% fat). Truth or fiction?
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:15:38 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 20, 2017 18:15:38 GMT
You can start arguments in France about whether unsalted or salted butter is better. Brittany has the principal tradition of eating salted butter, while Paris and Lyon go for unsalted butter, but there is no problem finding whichever you prefer anywhere in France, even though on the maps below you can see there really are big differences between certain regions. This shows the volume of sales represented by each region. (I guess Corsica declared independence while I wasn't paying attention.) imageshack.com/a/img923/492/rhOLTn.jpg
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:23:34 GMT
via mobile
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 20, 2017 18:23:34 GMT
We have Lurpak which is slightly salted.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:46:46 GMT
Post by mossie on Oct 20, 2017 18:46:46 GMT
I always get salted President, but I don't use a lot, mainly for frying meat.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 18:58:32 GMT
Post by bjd on Oct 20, 2017 18:58:32 GMT
My Breton son-in-law always teases me for not buying salted butter. Now I see why.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 20, 2017 22:42:16 GMT
Post by lagatta on Oct 20, 2017 22:42:16 GMT
I believe that is a maritime tradition among Celtic peoples.
I don't eat a lot of butter - I mostly use olive oil, and sunflower oil for the wok. But I do use it in preference to margarine.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 22, 2017 12:52:58 GMT
Post by fumobici on Oct 22, 2017 12:52:58 GMT
I love butter but a pound will last me a couple of months so unsalted butter, which spoils quickly, is out of the question. That's fine as I prefer salted anyway.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 22, 2017 14:42:58 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2017 14:42:58 GMT
It takes me a long time to go through butter as well. Luckily I live right next to a market, so can buy a small amount at a time. It's always unsalted, which is the kind I prefer anyway.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 25, 2017 5:21:03 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 25, 2017 5:21:03 GMT
I finally was able to buy some fresh products yesterday afternoon, and I got the next to last package of butter at the supermarket.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 25, 2017 8:47:59 GMT
Post by bjd on Oct 25, 2017 8:47:59 GMT
I went to the supermarket yesterday afternoon and there was nothing but margarine.
|
|
|
Butter
Oct 25, 2017 9:48:22 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 25, 2017 9:48:22 GMT
Well, I got the Monoprix butter of which there were two packages on display. There were maybe 8 or 10 packages of the luxury butter brands left, but I'm sure they were gone within an hour.
Since butter can be frozen, there are people probably stockpiling it.
|
|